TY accepted into the touring art show - 'A HISTORY OF QUEER STREET ART'

Awhile back, I was contacted by pivotal California street artist, Jeremy Novy about submitting some of my CLOUDZ work into his new touring art show: 'A HISTORY OF QUEER STREET ART' - I submitted my work and was accepted and included in the show. CLOUDZ by TY will be included in the show in Los Angeles in February. This is my first professional representation in an official show and I couldn't be happier or more thankful to Jeremy for his support and fire - here's a bit about Jeremy, the show and our message to the world. The voice of CLOUDZ will be spread around the world.

"Queer street art has always been an oppressed art form," he says. "We are not taggers. We're street artists. This is for social change. It's about doing something better."

A sign of Novy's growing influence: A new exhibit he organized and curated received indirect funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Commission. "A History of Queer Street Art," on display through June 25 at SOMArts, features gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender, and a few straight street artists from around the world who — like Novy — are plastering public spaces with in-your-face imagery with overt gay or queer themes. The Los Angeles artist Homo Riot, for example, is known for his stencils of kissing bearded men.

These artists — most in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s — claim to be at the forefront of a new street-art movement that is centered in metropolitan areas in Europe and the United States, including San Francisco. Their work, they say, is fighting homophobia.

"I'm really doing it to communicate, predominantly with gay men, that we're out there and we can be bold and we can be visible, and that's okay, and that's a good thing," says Homo Riot, who signs his work with the moniker B A Homo. He also argues that his work carries a message to heterosexuals: "Don't take us for granted. Don't belittle us. We're out here, and we could be on your street corner, and we're about this far from taking to the streets and causing trouble."

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